Saturday morning we started the day with the DollFest meetup, where I assiduously chased around people until I got their names, the names of the doll sculpts, and the names of their doll makers. I enjoyed an excuse to talk to strangers and share our enthusiasm.Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, 08/04/2018: Saturday meetup

Araminthe, Honorine, Sardonix, and Submit went to VTDL today, along with a crapload of Christmas props. While there, I swapped a Lumedoll Arine for Touralyn, DragonGems’ second scratch-built BJD ever. Because I found a crack in her torso, Megan is redoing her body, so I actually came home with just her head. I did, however, get some photos of her hanging around Submit, the other 1:6 scale doll of mine in attendance. Pictures are on the VTDL blog, as usual.

In successes, Submit’s Hujoo Wings body in apricot came on Friday. I narrowed the neck to fit her head socket, trimmed down the feet so they could fit into her glittery shoes, and wired her arms. The apricot plastic matches with the color of her resin well, and the proportions work very well; she now looks like she’s between 8 and 10 instead of between 6 and 8. With more evenly distributed weight, a jointed torso, single-jointed elbows, and double-jointed knees, she has much greater stability and articulation than she did in her original form.Continue reading Doll successes and frustrations this weekend

Wow, when was the last time I did a doll photostory that wasn’t Zville? Here’s Submit getting a sneak peek at the type of body to which she will soon be transferred — one with greater poseability that also happens to be a bit taller. Swappable faceplates are perfect for photostories that depend on reaction shots, like this one… 😀

Submit’s original form — an Elfdoll Hana — arrived in the mail today. I popped on the smirky faceplate, dressed her in her clothes, and posed her for a few triumphal photos. The photos demonstrate the extent of her elbow flexibility, as well as her need to be propped up by the backdrop wall [small feet and long, heavy torso make her unbalanced]. Adorable she definitely is, but she really needs a better body with double joints and modern engineering.Continue reading The kid is back: the return of Submit’s original form [a.k.a. Tiny Elfdolls are endearing!]

One of my most favorite dolls has always been the first inresination of Submit. I first purchased her as an Elfdoll Hana Devil back in March, 2007. This doll was a realistically proportioned 1:6 scale kid with four swappable faceplaces: neutral open-eyed, happy and smiling, pouting, and sleeping. As evidenced by my first photostory with her, she swiftly developed her own adorable, indomitable personality. Though I clearly enjoyed changing her expressions as needed, I quickly learned that the smirky one best reflected her general demeanor.

I sold Submit 1.0 just two months later to pay expenses, but always regretted getting rid of her. About a year and a half later, in November, 2007, I brought her back as another Elfdoll of the same size, but with a different headsculpt: Doona Kathlen. Obviously her personality is no different, but the Kathlen sculpt lacks that mischievous spark that so endeared me to Hana. It doesn’t perfectly represent Submit the way that the smirky Hana faceplate does.

Recently I got the idea to improve Submit’s articulation because, even though she’s excruciatingly cute in the headsculpt department, her body is just basic. While Delmar, a Leekeworld Gift Project Little Mermaid, suffers from laziness, Submit, by contrast, suffers from inadequately distributed focus. I seriously theorize that Rainmain expended so much creative energy on the expressive faceplates for Hana that he did a super basic, single-jointed body — functional but utterly pedestrian. The body also features some weird aesthetic choices, particularly a long, solid, unjointed torso, which, when combined with the short, stubby limbs, makes the doll imbalanced. On her original body, Submit can’t do much besides change expressions.

Thus I started thinking about either moving Submit’s head to a different body or hybridizing her to give her some better poseability. As I explore options for her upgrade, I realized that I would really rather have and upgraded Submit with a Hana sculpt instead of a Kathlen sculpt.

Just as I realized this, an Elfdoll Hana Angel [same as the Devil in all respects, except for the included costume] showed up on Ebay. I just won the auction, including the doll, all faceplates, default faceups, eyes, certificate of authenticity, and outfit [except for underwear] for a rockin’ $165.78 including shipping. Given that I paid somewhere around $350.00 for Submit the first time that I got her as an Elfdoll Hana, her current price is the equivalent of a significant discount!

Anyway, I’m still uncertain about how to improve her articulation, but at least I have the most appropriate headsculpt for Submit now. Welcome back, kiddo!

I saw some chocolate rabbits in Costco today, packaged in their own little wooden hutch with fenced-in sides, surrounded by felt grass, ladybugs and butterflies on the outside. It’s a surprisingly well-made piece, with a magnetic closure on top, a hinge on the lid, then three sides + top covered in wire mesh. Besides the felt decorations around the outside of the box, there’s also some shredded green paper in the box pretending to be grass.

Because I like Belgian chocolate and cool packaging, I purchased a box. Then some of my dolls found it…

We had a Valentine’s meetup on Saturday. For BJDs, I brought Muggins, Jujube and Submit. Cutey Honey also came along because she had hearts in her outfit. A close examination revealed that her hair is turning brittle and falling out, so I really need to fix that. VTDL members recommended a reroot, but I’m going for a wig. I’m pretty sure I have some bright red faux fur.

Saturday’s Valentine’s meetup of Chittenden County Doll Club attracted a total of eight doll enthusiasts, as well as at least two hangers-on who did not come with dolls. In any event, the turnout represents the most populous meetup of CCDC ever, not only in terms of people, but in terms of dolls [somewhere north of 25]. Onto the pictures!

The Puritans used to bestow upon their daughters nouns and verbs for names in the hopes that their children would embody these traits. Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence and Chastity are a few of these virtue names that have survived to the modern era. Others of them have died out, including Obedience, Abstinence, Humiliation…and Submit.

The only reason that I’m familiar with Submit as a name is that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother on my dad’s side was named Submit. I’ve always thought that was really cool, so I named one of my dolls Submit. This sometimes leads to confusion when my other dolls are surfing the Web….

As an invdividual whose hair regularly flirts with non-existence [i.e., I buzz my hair with a #1 blade down to 3.175 mm every month], I appreciate baldness.

I especially like women with no hair on their heads or else only a few millimeters. Hair provides protection and conformity to societal expectations, especially for women, whose hair is seen as their "crowning glory" [adapted from 1 Cor 11:14-15]. A purposeful lack thereof on women, therefore, indicates a certain boldness in flouting cultural expectations. At the same time, since it lays bare one's facial features and the shape of one's head — containing lumps, dips, curves, moles and scars that are secret for most people — baldness also denotes in my mind an appealing frankness and vulnerability, a willingness to confront the world plainly, with unadorned honesty. I find women's intentional baldness a strong aesthetic statement, perhaps even a philosophical one.

My attraction to bare-headed women appears in my doll population. The aesthetic appeal remains the same, while the philosophical underpinnings are more along the line of being lazy and cheap and not wanting to spring for an expensive, high-maintenance wig. :p

I went to doll club today and got American Kitchen #4 Baby Goods and #9 Merry Christmas. Geordie was particularly interested in the Merry Christmas bear, since pink is her favorite color. Even though she is mentally around 8, Submit was very amused with the pull toy ducky. Continue reading New toys for kidsies

I’ve finally put together all my Elfdoll Kathlens. One is Submit, obviously, and the other is either a ghost or a child vampire from some time between 1800 and 1860. The blue hair is temporary. I’m extremely pleased to have Submit back. Goddamn…that girl is cute. ^_^

Submit is being sold to help me pay expenses this summer. I am selling her, as opposed to the other ones, because she is the least customized and most desireable of my BJDs on which I can easily make back my purchase price.

I am sad because I will miss her because she is an enjoyable character. Her swappable faceplates make her the most expressive doll that I own. Her small size and large, stubborn personality also make for entertaining photostories… However, if, after my expenses are paid off, I still want a doll of her, I can easily get one in the same manner that I sold off, then replaced, Sardonix 1.0. Her replaceability is also a factor in her sale.

I can already tell that Submit thinks of her sale less as a sad departure and more as an exciting new adventure.

Thwarted in my quest to refine the goggles because all the craft stores were closed today, I worked on my crocheting skills. Instead of using a small yarn that showed my mistakes more clearly, I chose a soft, fuzzy, pink yarn that camouflages skipped stitches and irregular gaps! It is called Caron Bliss, Article BL1000, Color 0002 Cotton Candy. I think I got it at Walmart. I liked how soft and violently bright it was. Sardonix, however, did not. See discussion and pictures below.

I worked this hat differently than Submit’s smaller hats. I used a 2-1-2-1-2 series of stitches in an unjoined spiral for the crown. I continued this pattern of stitches until the crown seemed the right size to fit over Sardonix’ head. Then I began to do circles of single crochets with each row joined. Thus I made the sides until I tried that hat on her and it covered her ears. As a result, I got a lopsided [as usual], irregular hat, but the frothiness of the yarn disguises most of my mistakes.

I’m more pleased than I expected with this hat. Having purchased the yarn for its obnoxious properties, I did not expect to produce a project that I was proud of. The messy, forgiving weave of the yarn worked to my advantage, though, creating a serviceable hat that looks much less atrocious than I feared. While I have not achieved the evenness and perfection of my fiancee’s crocheting [she’s the one who taught me], I am slowly mastering hats and becoming less self-conscious about my abilities. I won’t be selling any time soon [not unless anyone particularly wants a fuzzy pile of crocheted cotton candy vomit], but I slowly approach my goal: neatly done amigurumi animals.

Submit likes the 1:6 blue hat I crocheted for her. I also think she likes Frank… My crochet skills are slowly improving, although I find working in the round more challenging than straight lines [e.g., a scarf]. I keep messing up the counts when I’m increasing each round. I also still have problems figuring out where to poke the needle for the next single crochet. Despite these obstacles, I produced a small serviceable hat on the second try. It even looks like a hat too, which is more than I can say for the pith helmet. Pictures below.

Before moving on to animals, I will practice making hats first. My initial attempt at a hat turned out lopsided and pathetic. However, Submit was much more gracious about my crocheting than Sardonix was!

Frank and Submit go so well together. His character definitely has maternal inclinations.

Last night I wired Submit’s arms with pipe cleaners so that she has a greater range of motion in her wrists and elbows. After the ordeal of disassembly, she quickly fell asleep in the most convenient area: Sardonix’ scarf.

For example. a 5″ high plush bear, floppy and stuffed with beans, costs under $10.00. A simple fashion doll, like Ballerina Barbie, goes for $5.00-$8.00. More to the point, outfits for playline dolls tend to be relatively inexpensive. Slutz Bratz clothing packs top out at about $10.00, as do those for Barbie. Only Hearts Club, a preppy line of preteen girl dolls, sells outfits for a slightly higher price, around $15.00.

With these general parameters in mind, you can see why I assume that clothes for Submit should be easy to find and cheap. While she is not a children’s toy, she is close enough in size to many mass-produced dolls [e.g., Slutz and OHC] to wear their clothes. Therefore, I should be able to find her good, cheap clothes, right?

Well, it clearly depends on where I purchase. Thanks to trial and error on doll boards such as DOA and ZOZ [that’s Zone of Zen, my newest membership, a smaller, more close-knit group], I know what playline doll clothes fit Submit. Thus, just now, I purchased about $60 of OHC outfits for her [hard to find stuff without pastels and pink, goddammit].

But, if I go to the Elfdoll site itself, I find astronomically different prices for Hana Angel and Devil clothes. Apparently the site isn’t cooperating, but, for example, it was selling a red long-sleeved shirt and denim overalls for $33.00. For comparable pricing, see Cheerydoll USA, where a set of beanie, long-sleeved shirt and denim overalls runs $60.00. Wait a minute…that’s not comparable; that’s almost double Elfdoll’s similar offering!! I accept that Cheerydoll provides high quality and that small-scale sewing requires finer work than 1:1 sewing, but what justifies such a disparity in pricing? Personally, I’d knock the Elfdoll price down by $10.00 and the Cheerydoll price down by $30.00. Then the prices would be more in range with the clothes for similar 8″ collector’s dolls, like Kish Riley [pants for which can cost $26.00 alone — a big shock to someone looking for a simple pair of overalls, goddammit].

As you can tell from the frequent swearing, I’m having difficulty producing an appropriate wardrobe for Submit. I’ve scrounged among my 1:6 clothes, which gives her enough to tide her over until her OHC stuff arrives.

Speaking of scrounging through 1:6 stuff, I still need to offload a lot of 1:6 furniture and some clothes because I’m much less active in 1:6 now. Plus the extra stuff is taking up valuable storage space.

Submit, my Elfdoll Hana, arrived today. When I inspected her, I clarified a few things. As much as I enjoy modding dolls, Submit is too attractive and well-made and generally endearing to change. Therefore she no longer has a conjoined sister. She is just a singular little demon with a different disposition than originally planned. Instead of peein in ur sodaz, she prefers to ride her bike and play Scrabble. She likes practical wear for outdoor games and does not like dresses, skirts and frills. She has an intellectual, introverted bent, probably because she is not evil at all, even though demons are expected to be at the very least mischievous. She is probably a mini dyke in the making. 😀 She will be an interesting counterpoint to the explosive, sarcastic, impulsive Sardonix. Pictures eventually…

Choo cha!! I just won an Ebay auction for Elfdoll’s Devil Hana. I’m bringing home the single doll and turning it into the dicephalus conjoined twins that I mentioned previously. They are called Delenda and Submit.

Submit, the annoying, rambunctious, sadistic one, has brown bobbed hair. Her name comes from one of my ancestors. It’s clearly supposed to contrast with her character. Delenda, the reserved, thoughtful one, has dreadlocked pink hair. Her name comes from the gerundive of necessity in Latin, demonstrated in the sentence “Carthago delenda est,” which means “Carthage must be destroyed!” Delenda and Submit do not get along in terms of character, but they do love to ride their bike together. I think they are small demon-like creatures from the same realm as Sardonix [who is a succubus, in case you didn’t know].

This post gets its title from one of the Hana Devil’s faceplates, which is a big squinty smirk. It’s an “I just peed in your soda!” expression if I’ve ever seen one.